Integrating Photorewritable Fluorescent Information in Shape-Memory Organohydrogel Toward Dual Encryption

As one of the severe global problems, counterfeiting information has brought a huge negative impact on every aspect of human society. Though various anticounterfeiting strategies, including fluorescent materials, are widely developed for dealing with the above problem, the information security level needs to be further improved due to sophisticated hacking techniques. In this study, an organohydrogel is designed by constructing interpenetrating organohydrogel networks, in which naphthalimide moieties (DEAN, green-yellow emission) are introduced in hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) hydrogel network and anthracene units (blue emission) are copolymerized in hydrophobic polystearate methacrylate (PSMA) organogel network. Triggered by UV light of 365 nm, the unimer-dimer transition occurs and leads the fluorescent color of organohydrogel to change from blue to faint yellow, making secret information be stored with the assistance of photomasks. Furthermore, by combining crystallization-induced shape memory performance, dual encryption can be achieved. This fluorescent organohydrogel provides a new idea for fabricating smart materials with the ability of encryption-decryption, which is of great significance in information security protection.

Automated summary

Counterfeiting information is a serious global problem, and using organic hydrogels for information security protection is of great significance.